1st free-standing birth center in Illinois may open

In 1985, the task force began working to change Illinois law to allow for free-standing birth centers, said Riedmann, who joined the group in 1992. But for decades its proposals were blocked by physicians and hospital groups, which raised concerns about everything from safety to the possibility of higher malpractice premiums for doctors. If low-risk pregnancies went to birth centers, they reasoned, doctors would be left with the mostly difficult cases.

In addition to safety concerns, obstacles have included "strong prevailing societal attitudes and beliefs about the riskiness of normal labor and birth, affecting both childbearing women and their care providers, despite strong evidence to the contrary," Hodnett said.

The momentum finally shifted in 2007 when the midwives hit upon a compromise — a pilot program — and found a powerful sponsor in state Sen. John Cullerton, now Senate president.

A Cullerton aide, Jay Rowell, was engaged to — and has since married — a midwife named Annette Payot, Riedmann said. Payot, who now works at the PCC clinic, helped Cullerton understand the issues, she said.

"Cullerton was able to convince the ISMS and IHA to sit down with us," Reidmann said. "We kept saying, 'Just get us around a table together,' but we couldn't garner their interest. They were just opposed. Once we sat down, we were able to hammer out details that caused concern."

Safety, transportation and eligibility criteria for patients were among the top issues. Once it became clear that the centers wouldn't offer C-sections and they would partner with hospitals for emergency care, the proposal moved forward, Riedmann said.

The current climate is also more favorable. In the five years since the bill passed, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has changed its position to support accredited free-standing birth centers as a legitimate place to give birth. In the U.S., there are 279 birth centers, a 27 percent increase since 2010, according to the American Association of Birth Centers.

"Birth isn't something to just get through; it's something that is meant to be experienced and shared," said Hope Cherry of Taylorville, a community health specialist who hopes to bring a birth center to central or southern Illinois. "Our culture views birth as an emergency, painful and dangerous. We don't value the experience of birth in our culture, and hospitals often don't do much to facilitate this experience. The biggest obstacle here in central Illinois is the notion that as long as we have healthy babies and moms, it doesn't matter how the baby is delivered."

If the state board approves the application, PCC could open the center within the year, said Ceal Bacom, director of advanced practice nurses and midwifery at PCC and a key part of the lobbying efforts. The center hopes to help 150 women deliver the first year, Bacom said. In addition to labor and delivery services, the birth center will offer prenatal care and community education services.

PCC targets a historically underserved population on Chicago's West Side and the near western suburbs, said Bacom, whose husband is an editor at the Tribune. About 61 percent of its patients are covered by public insurance, and 94 percent live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

The new birth center will screen all interested women and won't accept those who smoke, who have certain pre-existing medical conditions or who have had a previous cesarean section, she said.

Around the state, others will be watching with interest.

"The culture in Illinois is slowly changing," Cherry said. "If one opens near Chicago, I think it will spark the women (downstate) to say, 'Hey, I want that too.'"